Politics

Rodriguez wins special Assembly primary

Republican Jessie Rodriguez won Tuesday's primary election for the state Assembly seat recently vacated by Mark Honadel, a South Milwaukee Republican.

Rodriguez, a Franklin school choice advocate, received 1,512 votes.

Other Republicans vying to replace Honadel and their vote totals were: Jason "Red" Arnold of South Milwaukee, 72 votes; William "Larry" Gamble, a tea party activist and former pilot from Franklin, 170 votes; Oak Creek Ald. Ken Gehl, 535 votes; and Chris Kujawa, a South Milwaukee landscaping company executive, 864 votes.

Honadel left the District 21 seat he held for 10 years for a private-sector job. The district includes South Milwaukee, Oak Creek and part of Franklin.

Rodriguez will face off in the Nov. 19 general election with the only Democrat in the race, Elizabeth Coppola, a former Social Development Commission member.

District 69

Also Tuesday a Republican primary was held in central Wisconsin's District 69 for the Assembly seat formerly held by Majority Leader Scott Suder, who quit this year.

Republicans running for Suder's seat were: Scott K. Noble, former Marshfield alderman and tea party activist; Tommy Dahlen, a Granton tavern owner; Alanna Feddick, a Marshfield City Council member; and Bob Kulp, a Stratford service station owner.

Suder (R-Abbotsford) had held the seat until he quit to take a job as a state utilities regulator. He backed away from that job after the disclosure of his role in the legislative approval of a $500,000 grant that went to a sportsmen's group.